Sparkling Spendlove in marvellous Misery
The Irish Youth Baroque Orchestra
With the strains of Connie Francis’s, 'You belong to me', echoing around the Coastguard, writer Paul Sheldon (Derek Flynn) wakes to a living nightmare.
Nurse Annie Wilkes (Nicola Spendlove) is the ministering angel from hell.
He’s had a car crash and broken his tibia and fibia in two places. Luckily – although isolated in the mountains during a snowstorm with no road or telephone contact, Annie is the lass for Paul.
And …hey!...doesn’t she just happen to be the novelist’s biggest fan with a disturbingly and uncannily accurate recollection of all his 'Misery' novels. Heck, she’s been following him since he arrived in her hillbilly township. What more could the writer with multiple leg fractures want – except, perhaps a hospital with a orthopaedic and a surgeon – than a nurse who adores the author of a successful series of Victorian romance novels featuring a character named Misery Chastain? 'Misery' and Annie are sooo alike – romantic, attractive, ministering angels who speak directly to God. And…guess what…doesn’t God answer back? And, strangely, with the very responses that Annie would give.
It’s a union made in heaven. Or hell. Depending on your perspective. Paul’s “greatest fan”, unfortunately, is also a psychopath who systematically tortures and taunts her patient/victim throughout the next two hours. The terror lies in the reversal of roles as a woman and a nurse, two potent nurturing caring symbols of society, is gradually revealed as a lunatic deviant with sadistic and psychopathic intent to imprison and enslave the writer for killing off her favourite heroine Misery Chastain…”you murdered my Misery”. When Annie comes a-callin’ with her “ding-dong-mister-man” for his disturbingly regular dosage of painkillers and sleeping tablets, she’s not a happy camper. Especially when she discovers that her romantic heroine has snuffed it.
Annie takes to editing her prisoner’s copy as she screams at him that no one knows a thing about him in her cabin. Disturbing stories emerge of a husband that fled, co-workers that feared her temper and long periods of isolated late night shifts with little or no communication with another human being because no one would work with her. Theatre Vamps adaptation of the Stephen King novel focuses the entire storyline on the relationship between the neurotic Annie Wilkes and the terrified novelist Paul Sheldon and both actors rise to the task.
Nicola Spendlove is spell-binding as the neurotic, hands-up-pants-down nutter. Every facet of mad Annie’s character is laid bare in the tiny, closeted stage space that the Coastguard Station affords. Spendlove’s, Annie is an in-yer-face performace that is unforgettable. Her actions – grasping fingers, arms clutched tightly around her – and dangerous words define her. Along with that blank stare, as she moves to involve the audience in her vengeance, that registers the most terrifying fear of all – indifference to suffering. Nicola’s eyes move from confusion to anger through hysteria so that we feel there is no bottom level to this character’s violence.
Derek Flynn’s Paul Sheldon is the perfect foil to the delusional and menacing Annie. Being chair-bound for most of the evening makes it a difficult performance for any actor. Derek is calm, assured, non-threatening with a vulnerability that masks a steely determination to rid himself of this crazy neurotic who claims to be directed by God. Flynn’s deliberate actions and reactions make us aware of a complex mind at work that is always working towards his escape. His battle of wits with Annie holds us spell-bound and the growing sense of his superior intelligence winning the day keeps us firmly on his side.
Tonight’s performance of Theatre Vamps superb production of the Stephen King classic “Misery” was staged earlier this year at the Tramore Coastguard Station. Sadly, the attempt to re-stage this excellent production on the newly-constructed raised backstage platform that straddles the orchestra pit and seats the audience on the stage just didn’t work. Neither I, nor the people seated beside me, could see the production when the cast of two was seated – remember that one of the cast had a broken leg! – and couldn’t hear all of the dialogue when it was intimate. I can understand the Theatre Royal’s plans to introduce small scale productions over the summer but the audience must be able to see and hear them. While the raised stage may work for backstage concerts, it certainly doesn’t for plays. The stage has to be raised further to enable the action to be seen or, better still, simply revert to flooring the play on the existing stage and reducing the seating capacity to the first four or five rows of the stalls.
